Eric Sullwold from Pewag Chain demonstrated the how-tos and what-ifs of installing mud and
Morning and evening, everyone was treated to the fabulous food prepared by Fat City Smokehouse. Fat City has catered the Sportsmobile Rally for several years, and the restaurant's smoked tri-tips, ribs, salmon, and mahi mahi were truly gourmet. After dinner, the Sportsmobile Band showed their amazing talents (considering they only jam together once a year).
In keeping with this year's theme of "back to school," there was a Friday-night sock hop, and many owners came in their best poodle skirts and retro attire. There was no sign of the Fonz, but the Sportsmobiles were a reasonable stand-in for '55 Chevys.
We were treated to an amazing demonstration by members of Caltech's DARPA Grand Challenge
One afternoon, we were treated to an amazing demonstration by members of Caltech's DARPA Grand Challenge team. Sponsored in part by Sportsmobile, this year the team's 4x4 vehicle will again attempt to navigate a course between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the fastest time under 10 hours. The winning team receives a $2,000,000 prize. We should mention one catch before you think of signing up: There can be no driver or passenger in the vehicle, and only publicly available signals (e.g. GPS) may be used for navigation. Otherwise, the vehicle must be fully autonomous, receiving no other signals for navigation, path planning, obstacle avoidance, and terrain differentiation. More details may be found on the DARPA Grand Challenge website, www.grandchallenge.org, or at www.team.caltech.edu.